


Solider

by OdeyPodey



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, DadSchlatt, Emotional Manipulation, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rewrite, Winged TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OdeyPodey/pseuds/OdeyPodey
Summary: What if things had been different?Even if it's just slightly?-OR: Canon rewrite based on something I've been thinking about lately-Preface: This is NOT a diss to the writers of the SMP. I wanted to write my own perception on the events of the Dream SMP
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Jschlatt, Alexis | Quackity/Jschlatt, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Kudos: 43





	1. Silence in Sunrises

Sunrise. 

A haze of purple and yellow dusted the arctic, backlighting the frost rising from the snow. Tommy leaned against the porches railing slowly. His arms crossed in front of him as he scanned the barren wasteland. He sighed, eyes following the chilled breath as it dissipated into the air. He looked around again. Two wolves ran across the horizon, hopping and howling. A smile crossed his face. His nostrils burned from the cold temperature. A shiver crawled up his spine.

There weren’t many moments anymore where it was just silence. The last time there was, was when Tubbo had come home. He was five then. Phil had come inside carrying a box and out popped a bee and a kid. That was the last time there had been silence, that there had been peace. 

And then  _ he  _ showed up. A man clad in green carrying a sword. Accompanied by his friends. They seemed like lovely people at first. Going around, meeting them all. He brought gifts. Flowers for Niki, a stuffed animal for Tubbo, a hat for Phil. It all seemed wonderful. 

Then the election. 

That stupid election. 

He won, unsurprisingly. But everything had changed after the celebrations had ended. He’d counted their land as the Dream SMP. A faction of the once peaceful land. He’s crowned his friend as king. Since then, nothing had been silent. 

Few left the land after that, finding a home somewhere else. He’d been one of the few, leaving days later with his family to live in a house just north of what he’d once called home. They’d begun constructing a new home where they wouldn’t be found if things went south, and here they were raised. From ages seven to 15 this was his home. The dogs, the polar bear, the five of them. It was quiet here and they learned a lot.

Life out in the arctic was peaceful but no way silent. They’d had to deal with hunting their own food and working with crops. On Top of that, Dream had always come by late at night to talk to Phil and Techno, sometimes bringing a friend along with him and sometimes coming alone with weapons drawn. Tommy had always sat at the top of the stairs with Wilbur to listen. Sometimes the conversations were quiet, civil. They were minor discussions on things Dream simply needed help on. Others were loud and angry. Those conversations were accompanied with yelling and hands slamming on the kitchen table. Those types of conversations always resulted in Techno coming upstairs, scooping them up, and sitting in Tubbos room with them.

Those nights were bittersweet to say the least.

But all things have to come to an end. 

When Wilbur had mentioned he was going to move back and Tubbo had immediately been down to go with, Tommy had been iffy. Leaving everything he’d grown to know was a scary thought to him. Leaving behind his father and mentor was terrifying. But after some mild convincing and the confirmation that they could still come visit, Tommy was down. He’d started packing that night and was prepared to leave it all behind. 

“Big day huh?”

Tommy jumped, spinning around. His hand reached for the crossbow sitting on the porch railing next to him. He tensed, ready for a fight, before his eyes met Technos. He was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, and hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. He slowly raised his arms.

“Woah, cowboy. Relax.” He stood up. “Just me.”

“Don’t walk up behind me,” Tommy sighed. “I’ve told you that before.”

Techno snorted, walking towards him with a shrug. He nudged Tommys shoulder and leaned against the railing as well. A smile crossed his face as he looked around. A second passed before Tommy turned back to the tundra as well. 

“When are you three leaving?” Techno glanced at him.

“After breakfast. Tubbo wanted to say bye to Phil before we left even though Wil wanted to leave at dawn.”

“That’s understandable. I wouldn’t want to wake up at two to say bye to Phil before he left to go into town either.”

Tommy smiled. Phil usually went to sleep early and awoke at midnight every single day so he could get on the horse and ride out to the nearby town. He never exactly explained  _ why  _ but it was something they were all used to at this point. 

“Is anyone else awake?” Tommy leaned back. 

“I think Tubbo was waking up when I was heading downstairs but I don’t know about Wil. We could check if you’d like.”

He shrugged, looking back towards the sunrise. A figure in the distance, outlined by purple, came into view. Behind them a horse trotted along. What looked like bags were strapped to it’s back. Tommy stared at it for a second before smiling.

“Dad’s back!” The screen door behind them slammed shut as Tubbo jumped out, tugging on his jacket over his pajamas. 

“Let’s go say hi!” Tommy turned to him.

With a nod, both of them hopped down the stairs. Techno shook his head and smiled. Tubbo and Tommy raced across the snow, pushing at each other. This was a familiar event to both of them. If they were lucky enough to wake up early enough they’d get dressed and race to get to Phil first. Often enough, Phil would bring the family gifts from the town so it was always an exciting event to see who’d get there first.

As the two drew closer the image of Phil became clearer. He looked up at them, smiling. He stopped where he was. They reached him nearly at the same time, jumping up to hug him. Phil stumbled backwards, laughing. He held onto them, wings flapping out to stable them. 

“I won this time!’ Tubbo shouted, a laugh following. 

“No way! I won!” Tommy let go. He looked over at him.

“I think it was a tie.” Phil let go of Tubbo, wings settling down against his back.

“Fine! Then we’ll race back to the house!” Tommy turned back, smiling.

“Woah woah woah.” Phil crossed his arms, looking back at the horse. “Since you’re both out here you could help carry some of this stuff back to the house.”

“But we’re leaving today!” Tubbo frowned.

The two groaned before silently complying. They moved towards the horse, beginning to pull off some of the load. Tommy grunted. They were a lot heavier than usual. He looked over at Phil. He offered him a smile, taking hold on the horses lead again.

“What did you get this time?” Tubbo lifted one of the bags off as well. He stumbled before regaining his stance. 

“Few things for breakfast and a few things for you both to take with you.”

“Cool!” Tommy smiled. “Did you get any gifts?”

“‘Course I did. Every single week.”

Tommy smiled more, situating the bag over his shoulder with a grunt. The three set back off towards the house. It seemed like Wilbur was standing on the patio with Techno now. They were talking about something, leaning against the railings. 

Maybe he was wrong about something before.

Maybe life could be loud sometimes and silent some other times.

Maybe that’s just how it worked.


	2. Two Boxes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil has a two gifts for Tommy before they leave.

“I can’t believe you’re all leaving us.”

Tommy smiled, hoisting his backpack onto his shoulder. Breakfast had gone by rather quickly and, after cleaning up the plates, the three had raced to their rooms to get ready. From what Tommy understood, both Wilbur and Tubbo were downstairs already, waiting for him to go. Yet, something in him hesitated. He’d lived here the majority of his life. This was his family. He was safe here. He wasn’t safe in the city, and anything could happen. 

_ He couldn’t imagine what Phil would say if he didn’t come home. _

_ If any of them didn’t. _

He turned to look at Phil, who was standing in the doorway. He held a particularly large box in his arms. Tommy smiled proudly at him and glanced around the room once more. He wanted to take a few looks around in case he never came back here.

“Looks like you’ll have to get used to living with just Tech and his dogs, yeah?”

“Looks like it,” Phil chuckled. “You’ve got everything?”

Tommy nodded. He’d thrown everything he wanted into his bag. His jacket was on as was his hat and gloves. They’d be walking for a while in the cold so he assumed he could just take them off if he got hot. He nodded again, reassuring himself he’d had everything even though he wasn’t quite confident.

“Good. That’s good.” Phil smiled, setting the box down on the bed. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about a few things before you left.”

He sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to him. Tommy plopped down. He frowned as he watched him. Something about Phil was off. He had a worried glint in his eyes that looked like he was hesitant. That or scared. He took off his backpack, letting it fall on the bed behind him to listen.

“There’s some people where you’re going. They don’t like me and Techn, and they won’t like you if they figure out we’re related,” Phil sighed. “There’s a guy there, one with horns. He’s not-”

Phil paused, sighing again. He leaned forward and looked down for a second. He was hesitant, usually, in explaining these kinds of things. 

“He doesn’t… He’s not the nicest of guys. He’s like Dream is, only more satanic in nature...He- Listen. Tommy. What I’m about to tell you you can’t tell anyone else. Understood?”

Tommy nodded. He shifted to face him. “Understood.”

_ \- Eleven years prior - _

_ The wind howled, pressing against the house and beating against the roof. Thunder was echoing outside somewhere, lightning flashing down every so often. Phil was laying flat on his back in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He was exhausted but was terrified to sleep. Tommy was running a crazy fever and he’d been asleep a lot of the day. He’d caught the pneumonia going around the village close by and he’d only been getting progressively worse as the week went on. Neither Phil nor Techno were quite sure how to help. Anything they’d tried had flopped. Phil was worried he was going to get worse when he went to sleep, that Tommy would get a lot worse. Well, that or he’d be… He didn’t want to think about that at the moment. He sighed and looked over at the clock. It read back about three am. He blinked a few times at it before sitting up. He rubbed his eyes.  _

_ He should probably get up if he isn’t gonna go to sleep. _

_ Phil pushed himself out of bed and stood up. He stretched slowly, rubbing his neck. The storm was getting worse from what he could tell. The wind was picking up and the rain was beating harder on the roof. He hopped it wouldn’t knock down the tree outside, that would be a pain in the ass to clean up. He rubbed his face. He should shower or something. Maybe then he’d be able to fall asleep. His wings felt like heavy weights placed on his back, dragging against the ground, and maybe he just wanted to lay back down and just wait for sleep to overtake him. He shook his head. He carefully pulled a blanket off the edge of the bed and wrapped it around himself, moving across the room and out his door. Looking down the hallway, he could see that both Techno and Tommy's doors were shut.  _

_ He sighed quietly, beginning to walk down the hallway, stopping at Wilbur's room to check on him as his door was still wide open. He peeked around the corner and looked around. Wilbur was curled up in the corner of his room where Tommy and him had made a fort only days prior. He was wrapped in a few blankets with a lamp burning next to him. A book was wide open in his lap. His head was slumped against a few pillows. He was out cold. Phil chuckled and quietly closed the door.  _

_ He began walking downstairs, his hand coming out to hold onto the railing. Maybe he needed a snack? He nodded to himself. After a snack he’d be able to go to sleep and he’d wake up and everything else would go back to normal. Cereal sounded good. He could also cut up an apple and eat that. _

_ Phil moved into the kitchen, flicking on the lights. He grunted in surprise. It was a lot brighter than he assumed. He walked across the room and grabbed an apple. He didn’t bother washing it, immediately pulling out a knife and cutting it up. He smiled to himself. Something about being up this early brought him back to when he lived with just him and some friends and they’d stay up this late to make some food.  _

_ He smiled again, satisfied when it was cut up enough. He wasn’t quite sure he’d eat the entire apple but it was worth a shot to at least make himself fall asleep. He shuffled over and pulled himself up to sit at the breakfast bar. He settled down and looked across at the photo wall. He ate his apple in almost perfect silence while he thought back. Some of the photos were of him with friends, with Techno when he was little, with baby Tommy, and with Wilbur when he’d first started learning how to fly. He smiled sadly at the thought. Both boys had lost their wings in a freak accident. _

_ Well “freak accident” wasn’t quite right… He shook his head. _

_ Phil didn’t quite want to think about that, either, at the moment. _

_ A knock on the front door caught his attention. Phil looked over from his seat. He frowned and pushed himself up, grabbing the lanturn off the counter in front of him and moving across the room. Who could possibly be out in this weather at this hour? He glanced out the window and looked around. There wasn’t anyone there. Just the darkness of night and the barn a few meters away. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. Holding the lantern out the opening, he couldn’t quite see anything either. He went to step out, feeling his foot bump into something that caused him to stumble back.  _

_ There was a small box, slightly closed to defend the contents from the elements outside of the porch. A “Phil” was scrawled on top of it with a lack of sender. He looked out across the empty field, holding the lantern out more.  _

_ “Hello?” He called to no response. _

_ He squatted down and placed a hand on the box. He immediately pulled it back, feeling it shift around. A few small holes were poked in the top and a thought that a puppy had been left crossed his mind. Maybe it would make some of the family feel a bit better. He pulled open the box carefully and froze. Inside was a bunch of blankets, some pristine and new, some old and falling apart, and some in the middle. The blankets squirmed slightly and he placed a hand on it, pulling the top back. His breath caught in his chest. Peeking over the top was the face of a small child. Two bright blue eyes stared up at him. It had a mass of blonde, curly hair and two small horns peeking out from it.  _

_ “Oh,” he whispered. “Oh christ. Hello there.” _

_ Phil reached into the box, scooping up the baby and it’s blankets. He held it close to his chest for a second and looked down. The child's lips quivered slightly and Phil frowned. The poor thing looked mortified.  _

_ “Hey. It’s alright little one. You’re safe.”  _

_ He looked down at the box again, eyeing the small envelope in it. He scooped it up and opened it, pulling out the thin piece of paper inside.  _

_ Phil, _

_ I realize how sudden this is. I mean, to be fair it was pretty sudden even when his mom rocked up to give him to me. She already has two kids and can’t afford to take another one with her on the seas. She thinks it’s dangerous, though I think one of the kids, Dream, the older one, is staying home with his brother to watch over him. I couldn’t tell you jack shit about it though, she doesn’t tell me anything to begin with. You can probably imagine my fucking surprise when she showed up with this kid. _

_ I don’t know when I'll come back for him, or if for that matter. I can’t afford him. I don’t know jack shit about children. Fucking hell, I drink all night and sleep all day. I tried to stop for the kid. The kid was and is the world to me. He kept me going, kept me getting out of bed and got me to live for once. We did everything together. Took em to the park, the store, wherever I went the kid came with. He was like a little me. But every time I look at him I see myself and I see the failures of my life and I want to… I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to do. I want to get rid of that feeling but I don’t even know what that feeling is anymore.  _

_ Please take care of my boy. I named him Tubbo. He likes bees. Please, I guess, listen to him. He gets upset when you don’t pay attention when he’s trying to show you something. He’s like a year old now and he can’t talk but he tries to talk a lot. He also likes to run around the house and steal things. Grabs onto anything he can so keep your wings safe I guess. _

_ Just tell him I love him, alright? Tell him his dad was a huge fuck up and doesn’t deserve to be in his life and that he needs to go home to his mom one day and tell her she left him with a drunk and that she fucked up to. Just tell him how much I love him and how much I miss him, for me.  _

_ \- S _

_ Phil ran his thumb over the page. Parts of it were raggy and bumpy, as if they’d been wet and left out to air dry. He frowned and turned it over. On the back there was a small photo of what looked like a baby in a man's arms but the man's face was pulled out. The chunk of corner had been haphazardly ripped.  _

_ His eyes drifted to the baby slowly. The big eyes stared back at him. They had a look of terror and confusion glossed over them. In his arms he held a plush bee that was ripped in a few places and matted. It had been well loved. _

_ “It’s alright,” Phil whispered and shifted him closer to his chest. “You’re alright little man.” _

_ He looked out once more at the field. He could, in the distance, just barely make out the shape of someone walking. They stopped and turned back to look at the house before continuing on their way in a slow, almost dragging speed.  _

_ “Let’s get you inside and in a bed, Tubbo.” _

-

“So you’re trying to tell me Tubbo was… abandoned?” Tommy looked at Phil slowly. “I don’t understand. Why was… who would give him up?”

Phil sighed, shaking his head and standing up. He looked out of the room and across the hallway at the shut door marked with a large green sign and a small bee painted in the corner that read  _ Tubbo.  _

“His father was struggling. He cared a lot for his son, and he wanted the best for him.” He turned to look at Tommy. “When you’re a parent, everything you have goes to your children. One day, if you choose to be a parent, you’ll understand. It’s a hard task and it’s draining. Some people care deeply for their children but can’t personally care and deal with the stress.”

“Oh.” Tommy frowned. 

“Tubbos father was a good friend of mine and he was in a dark place back then. After Tubbo, he was a different guy. Charismatic, charming, everything you want in a good dad. But he… he didn’t understand that a child was not an adult if that makes sense.”

Phil lifted up the box again as Tommy stared down at his feet. The room fell silent. Tommy didn’t quite understand what Phil was trying to say, but he assumed he’d understand when he was older. Like most things. After a second, Phil took his place once again next to him on the bed.

“Before you leave, I have a gift for you.” He carefully set the box on Tommys lap. “I meant to give this to you when you were older but I didn’t quite compensate for you wanting to move out.”

Tommy chuckled. He ran his hand across the top. It was a box he’d seen before, having gifted the same box to Phil last christmas. He began undoing the ribbon on the top of it and pulled it apart,lifted the top off. He looked inside and paused. Sitting there was a red and white sweater with green lines running down the arms. 

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude-” He glanced at Phil. “But I have this sweater already. You’d given me one for my birthday last year.”

Phil sighed, a smile quirking at his lips as he pulled the sweater back. Sitting beneath it were two disks. They were held together by a similar ribbon that was on the box and they were wrapped in a soft blanket. Tommy furrowed his brows together. They wouldn’t have anything to listen to in their new home and he doubted that he would ever  _ have  _ enough time to listen to them. One of them had a green cover and the other had a purple and pink one. 

“These, Tommy,” he whispered. “Are probably the most important thing you’ll ever have in your life.”

“More important than you and Wil-?”  
“Way more important.” He looked at him. “I need you to guard these with your life.”

“But why-”  
“I can’t tell you. I wish I could but I made a promise to a few people. I can’t tell you. I'm sorry but I just-” He offered another smile. “I'm sorry.”

Tommy shook his head and carefully fixed the blankets around them and replaced the sweater. He couldn’t quite understand why a couple of disks could lead to the end of the world but he decided he’d wait and ask later. If Phil said they were important, they probably were. He replaced the top and redid the bow, standing up.

“You can trust me, Phil. I won’t let anyone get to them.”

Phil smiled, pushing himself up. He reached back and picked up Tommys bag for him. handing it over. He watched him for a second before nodding. 

“Ready to head out?”

Tommy smiled as well. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Phil patted his shoulder, heading downstairs. Tommy shocked his head and looked around the room once more. He couldn’t believe this would be one of the last times, if any, that he would see his bedroom. He turned and made his way out, shutting the door. This felt odd. Leaving the house had been one of his biggest fears since he was a kid. He shifted his bag around slightly and hopped down the stairs. 

Wilbur and Tubbo turned to look at them. Wilbur was holding two bags as well as his guitar and Tubbo was holding his giant bee stuffed animal. They both smiled. Tommy ran over to them and smiled.

“Everyone got everything?” Wilbur looked at both of them.

“Yep!” Tubbo nodded. “Spent a week working on packing my bags! I'm all set!”  
“I am as well!” Tommy smiled.

“Alright.” Phil smiled as well. “Please be careful walking. Send a letter when you get there, alright?”

“And don’t get in any trouble on your first day.” Techno walked over from the kitchen, a mug in his hands.

Tommy chuckled, shaking his head and pulling the front door open and stepping out. It was beginning to snow and it was fairly cold out but it was a considerably nice day. They hopped down the stairs, walking across the land. Tubbo turned around, waving towards the house.

“Bye!” He shouted.

“Be safe!” Phil shouted back, waving as well.

Tubbo smiled. He waved more. Wilbur snorted and glanced over at Tommy. His eyes flicked down to look at the large box.

“What’s that?”  
“A new sweater from Phil,” Tommy mumbled.

“Ah. Cool.” 

Tommy nodded, shifting it slightly. They had a lot of walking to do if they wanted to make it there by three… maybe three was an understatement…. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> W AH
> 
> I am frantically posting this so I can work on a one shot thing that my friend brought up that caused me immense pain. I apologize.
> 
> Thank you for reading, have a good day, wear your mask, and drink your water!


	3. Lost in the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling against the heavy snow and setting sun, the realization is dawning on them that none of them can read maps properly.

“Are you sure we aren’t lost?” Wilbur yanked the map out of Tommys hands, holding it up against the fading sun.

The three had been walking for hours at this point. The snow was falling harder, the temperature progressively dropping every mile or so. Tommy grunted and stared at him, leaning over his shoulder to look at it.

“Im positive. I was following the line that Phil drew out.” He reached for it, his other hand gripping the box tighter.

Wilbur shook his head. The red line was barely visible in the snow fall. He turned the map over in his hands a few times before stopping. His eyes fixated on the top left corner of the paper and he groaned loudly, lowering the map.

“Dumbass!” He shouted. “You’ve held it upside down this _entire_ time!”  
“It wasn’t my fault! You handed _me_ the map and told me to take the lead!” Tommy turned, stopping as well.

“Because you said you knew how to read it!”

“I never said that!”

Tubbo rolled his eyes, looking down at his feet. With how quickly the temperature was dropping most of the slush would turn into ice over the night. If they wanted to make it to the faction safely, they’d have to pick up the pace, especially if they were lost. 

“Back at home! You looked at me and told me you knew what you were doing!”  
“Because Techno told me how to!”  
“How come you were holding it upside down, then?”

“I have no idea!” Tommy shouted, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know what way was north!”  
“There’s a compass rose Tommy!” Wilbur sighed, looking around. “And if you didn’t know you should’ve asked!”

Silence lingered over the group as Tommy and Tubbo stood, watching Wilbur try to figure out which way they’d been coming from. He scanned the ground, moving towards the foot prints. He shook his head.

“We need to start walking now if we even want to think about getting halfway back home before the footprints all disappear.”

“We could also just camp out here. We have enough stuff,” Tommy mumbled, shifting the box in his arms.

“We can’t camp out in the snow. It’s going to get worse and we’ll freeze out here, Tommy.” Wilbur turned to look at him. 

“Well then we just-” He shrugged. “I don’t know... find a cave.”

“Right because a cave sounds so much better than sleeping outside.”

“We’ll at least be sheltered from the snow.” Tubbo looked over at Wilbur. “I think Tommys right. It’s better we stop now and keep going when it’s warmer.” 

“Christ this is a mess.” WIlbur held the map up again, staring at it. 

“If you knew how to read the map then you should’ve been the one leading from the start,” he whispered.

Tommy moved to stand next to him, staring at it. He mumbled something that Tubbo couldn’t quite hear from the distance he was at. The two began fiddling with the lanturn hung on the side of Wilburs bag, trying to pull it off in order to light it up. Tubbo sighed, looking around. Something flashed in the distance and he froze. Tubbo looked over, momentarily distracted by the arguing. He moved between the trees, pulling some of the evergreens branches down to have a better look.

“Guys-!”  
“Not now Tubbo, we’re trying to figure this out,” Wilbur mumbled. He held the lantern closer to it, squinting.

“No you-”

“Tubbo, we’re trying to focus.” Tommy shook his head, leaning down as well. “We could get back across the river tonight if we walked fast but if the bridge is frozen over it might-”

“Guys!” He shouted, turning back to them. “We aren’t lost!”

The two groaned and turned to look at him. Their eyebrows raised in mild annoyance and confusion. Wilbur frowned, stepping towards him. He held the lanturn up again. 

“We’re surrounded by woods, Tubbo. This looks nothing like the city. We’re lost.”

“No!” He shook his head, pulling back some of the trees' loose branches. “Look!”

Wilbur and Tommy stepped closer, leaning down in order to look under the thick collection of pine wood and needles. Squinting, they could see light, and a lot of it. The snow reflected the small twinkling of lanterns set in windows, tall buildings draped in icicles and catching the falling snow on window sills stared down at them. Wilbur gasped, beginning to shove his way into the trees. Tommy followed quickly.

“I told you!” He shouted. “We were going the right way!”

The three made their way to the edge of the forest, stopping at a large clearing on the cliff side. The snow crunched loudly and began falling over the edge. The light was bright, brighter than the three had ever seen before. It was a city that was awake. One that housed those who wanted to live, those who knew  _ how  _ to live. Decorations lined building edges, flags tumbling down from it. Few people were walking on the street. None of them, from the distance they were at, could possibly name any by appearance. They all looked deep in conversation with one another, closing and locking store fronts, calling up to open windows on higher stories, walking home after a long day's work. It all looked so peaceful, so normal.

Nothing like what they’d left it with nearly ten years ago. 

“Wow!” Tubbo stood in between the two, eyes wide in amazement. “It’s gorgeous!”

“There’s a lot of lights!” Tommy nodded in agreement. He stepped closer. “How long do you think it’s going to take to get there?”

“Who cares!” Wilbur laughed, dropping his backpack in the snow behind him. “We’ve finally arrived!”

The three laughed, staring down at it all. It was a lot to take in after being so isolated for so long. The paved roads were rather different compared to the dirt roads they were so used to. There weren’t any animals in sight safe for the few pets that followed behind some of them. Tommy glanced over to Wilbur and Tubbo. Their eyes were wide, mouths open in a gaping manner. He leaned down, picking up some snow and balling it in his hands. He turned fully towards Wilbur, throwing it over at him.

“Tommy, what the hell?” Wilbur looked down at his arm.

“What do you mean?”

Wilbur frowed, leaning down to pick up some snow. Tommy smiled again.

_ Guess this meant war. _

-

It was silent, standing on a roof above the snowy hill. Peering through the binoculars, he could almost see the three of them in rather great detail. They were jumping around, throwing snow at each other, shoving each other to the ground and shouting about something that was just barely out of ear shot. A grin crossed his face.

“Seems they’ve gotten here in one piece, huh?” The binoculars lowered. A hand came up to carefully pull the mask back down to his face. It lingered for a moment before resting on his lap. 

“They’re children. I bet you they’re just out adventuring and got lost. You know, like kids do.” 

“George, don’t tell me you’re going soft now.” He looked back at him. The hallow painted on and cracked smile almost stared into his soul. It caused George to shudder ever so slightly. 

“Dream, ” he responded in a rather monotone voice. “I'm not going soft, I'm stating a fact.”

Dream chuckled, shaking his head. He turned back, eyes settling on the box laying in the snow adjacent to Tommy's bag. A smirk crossed his face. “Think the old man sent them?”

“Which one?”

“I wouldn’t consider Blade old, but I see your point,” Dream snorted. He lowered the binoculars, pushing himself to stand up. “Looks like they’ve brought a welcoming gift. Send the kid out to go get them.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me forever to write and it only ended up being t h r e e pages what the hell? 
> 
> Anyways! Thank you all so so much for all of the support on this wtf. I went from 200 hits to like 600 hits overnight??? Thank you?? The idea freaks me the hell out and I'm concerned why you're all sitting down watching me clunkily rewrite the ENTIRE dream smp but-
> 
> Regardless, thank you all. It means the absolute world to me.
> 
> Stay safe, drink water, and wear your masks.


	4. Stalker and the Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, meeting strangers isn't such a bad thing.

Pitch black...

And completely silent... 

That’s how these things worked. In the middle of the night when nobody would see  _ him _ .  _ He _ was used to this. Standing behind trees was normal to  _ him _ now and  _ he _ couldn’t quite imagine what  _ he’d _ be doing if  _ he _ hadn’t been given this job.

Well,  _ he _ knew what  _ he’d _ be doing.

_ He’d be dead. _

_ He _ squinted, shifting a bit more behind the tall oak as  _ he _ watched the three talk. They were sitting in a cave, on top of what looked to be large bags?  _ He _ didn’t quite understand but they looked rather warm, comfortable. They’d been talking for hours at this point, waiting for the small fire in the cave to die out so they wouldn’t risk it spreading to nearby objects.

_ He _ wondered what the three had to talk about at this hour. Looking up, the moon was nearing the center of the sky.  _ He _ couldn’t… quite comprehend what that meant to  _ him _ though  _ he’d _ been standing behind the tree since it had only been a quarter of where it was now. A slight frown twisted at the corner of  _ his _ lips. Why couldn’t they simply fall asleep?

_ He _ shifted on his feet before quickly slipping into the wood filled shadows behind  _ him _ , moving towards the entrance a bit more. Sure  _ he _ was getting… ballsy but… it was necessary.  _ He _ wanted to listen, wanted to know.  _ He _ dropped behind one of the larger trees’ bases, hands grabbing onto the sides of it and looking around the corner. 

“What do you mean, Tommy?” The taller, brown haired one spoke. He seemed like a mediator. Someone who was simply trying to keep the conversation civil.

“I mean that-” The smaller, blonde haired one huffed. He seemed rather… aggressive, angry if you would. His hands flailed while he vented. “What I wanted to say was that Phil gave me a box with these two like… records or or these-” 

The blonde reached across his bag and scooped up a rather large. He tossed the top across the cave and began pulling off the… shirt from inside it. After a moment he produced two round objects.  Eyes widening,  _ he _ moved closer, carefully creeping around the tree at the sight of the discs. The purple and green colors almost glowed in the heavy light omitting from the small campfire.  _ He _ could simply jump into there, grab the discs and jump away without worry.

“These  _ things.  _ Phil said they were important and refused to talk about them. He said I couldn’t tell absolutely anything about these but I-” He shook his head. “I don’t even know what they are, let alone why they’re so ungodly important.”

“Maybe they have like cryptic notes on them!” The smallest of the bunch reached over for it, pulling the purple one out of his friends hands. “Like how Tech used to write on the inside of his crown.”

“Techno wrote on the inside of his crown because he hated paper, Tubbo.” The tall, brown one snatched it from him almost instantly. "He thought it was a waste to use."

_ Tubbo. _

Carefully,  _ he  _ pulled  _ his  _ notebook out of his pocket, scribbling down a jumble of symbols until he confidently wrote  _ Tubbo. _ _ Blonde, small, quiet.  _ He nodded to himself and looked back at the group. His eyes squinted.

“Wilbur give that back! I was looking!” Tubbo shouted, hand flailing slightly for the disc.

_ Wilbur - Tall, lanky, odd looking, brown hair _

“Stop whining Tubbo. I’ll give it back when I'm done.” He held it close to his face, turning it around in his hands a few times before craning his neck to look at it. 

“It's Tommys discs. You’re gonna break it!”

_ Tommy - Loud, blonde part 2. _

“I'm not gonna break it! And it’s not Tommys disc! It’s Phils!”

_ Phil - ? Dad? Disc owner  _

“It’s not Phils!” Tommy shouted back, beginning to scramble out of his bag and snatching the disc quickly. “He said he stole them.”

_ He  _ frowned, scratching out the last part.

“Besides, neither of you are supposed to know about this so give it here.”

Wilbur snorted, shaking his head as he laid back, pulling the bag over him more.  _ He  _ shifted slightly. The bag couldn’t be any more comfortable than the ground was

“It’s not like I'm gonna tell anyone.” Wilbur shrugged.

“Right! We don’t really have anyone to tell!” Tubbo smiled.

“Still-” Tommy shook his head, putting the discs in a box next to him, carefully tying it shut. “Just don’t… don’t share this with anyone.”

“Again, it’s not like we have anyone to share it with.” Wilbur curled up, closing his eyes with a sigh. “Go to bed, we have a lot of walking to cover tomorrow.”

_ His  _ eyes widened slightly, a gurgle climbing his throat. This would be the prime chance to get in there and grab the discs and then tuck into the dark, hidden away forever. At least then he would be happy with  _ him.  _

After a while, the three finally all settled in. The younger members spoke for a while longer before laying down to listen to the fire crackle. Once  _ he  _ was sure that they were all asleep,  _ he _ slinked in.  _ His _ eyes scanned the room, searching for that baby blue box. It seemed to have been tucked away somewhere.  _ He  _ carefully stepped around the bags.  _ His _ eyes glanced over them for a moment before they landed on the goal.

A smile crossed  _ his  _ lips and  _ he  _ leaned down, picking it up. The box was very pretty to look at and  _ he  _ could understand why they’d kept it.  _ He  _ pulled the ribbon apart and lifted the top off. Inside sat the two discs,  _ his  _ two prizes for  _ his  _ efforts. With a satisfied nod,  _ he  _ set the box back in its place and began creeping around the side of the cave again.  _ He’d  _ be able to head back, give them the discs, and get to bed without an issue-

“Hey-” 

_ He  _ jumped, dropping the discs almost instantly and whirling around to look at the figure. It was the blonde… Tubbo. He was sitting up in his bag, staring in mild confusion and exhaustion up at  _ him. _

“Oh-” He frowned. “An enderman. Are you lost?”

_ He  _ could only stare, a slight gurgle resting at the lower part of his chest.

“Sorry if I spooked you, we don’t get many enders out in the arctic.” Tubbo smiled, tilting his head. “You’re kinda a funny Enderman, you know?” He smiled more. “I’ve never seen hair on you guys… you’re also kinda… Do you have a name?”

_ A name? _

_ He  _ could only gurgle back, blinking a few times. A name was something given to humans, given to those who were deemed worthy… well that’s at least what the green man had told  _ him.  _

“Do you not have a name?” He frowned. “You should have a name. It's important. Like, I'm Tubbo! And then that one over there-”

He twisted, pointing at the blonde across the room. “That’s Tommy.”

_ He  _ gurgled, feeling  _ his _ lips twist again.  _ He _ couldn’t quite determine what he was doing… though  _ he’d _ seen this behavior in others around  _ him _ . 

“And the tall bossy one is Wilbur.” Tubbo turned to look back up at him. “I think you… hm… you look like a Dave.”

_ A Dave? He  _ gurgled again at the thought, eyebrows knitting together.

“Oh… you don’t seem to like Dave. Well…” Tubbo shifted, yawning quietly. “You’re kinda like a half ghost half demon with your cool colour difference… Maybe you could go with… Ranboo? You know because you tried to run because I spooked you but you’re like a ghost because of how quiet you are.”

“Ran... boo?”  _ He  _ repeated, backing up again.  _ He  _ wasn’t supposed to be caught.

“Ranboo.” Tubbo smiled again, nodding. “It has a good ring to it.”

“Ranboo… I like that name.”

“I do too. It suits you-” He paused, turning and digging in his bag before producing a small apple. “You look a bit hungry… I don’t know if you eat things because normal enderman don’t usually eat things.”

_ H-  _ Ranboo paused, leaning down and taking it from him with a nod.

“Thank you.”

“Our dad got it at a village back at home. They’re really good. You’ll like it a lot.”

Ranboo smiled slightly, backing away once more. He eyed him for a second before feeling himself shake and then the feeling of fuzz and darkness grew around him.

He’d remember that moment.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Odette!! Give them absolutely nothing and then hate this entire chapter!! Yes bestie you queen. 
> 
> Anyways, hello! Sorry for making you all wait for so long I genuinely didn't mean for chapter 4 to take so long to come out? It's 12:33 AM cst when Im posting this and I should be asleep but I wanted to crank this out and throw it in here.
> 
> I apologize for any confusion this chapter may bring. I wanted to, you know, experiment a little with writing these things out to make it a bit more interesting of a read. For the most part, Solider will be entirely from Tommys point of view and will center around him, but to make a bit more sparkle and flair, ill be writing from others POVS on the occasion. This is kinda a stupid chapter but I simply wanted to introduce Ranboo in a fun way to the story, lmao.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this part of the rewrite as much as I do! Thank you for reading, stay safe, drink water, and wear your masks!

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo!
> 
> Did you guys enjoy this chapter? I had a lot of fun planning and rewriting this part of the SMP. I've been working hard on planning for this and my idea is just an entire rewrite. I've got a lot of scenes planned and written out to an extent!
> 
> I hope you guys are excited!
> 
> Stay safe, wear your mask, and drink water!


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